I have big exciting news!!!  But, before we get to that, I have tell you about a serious problem in China…

China has a huge air pollution problem in many cities. Chengdu, where Jay lived, is one of the worst cities for pollution. To give you some context, the World Health Organization has set an upper safety limit of 35 micrograms of PM 2.5 per cubic meter. This is a measure of the number of large particles suspended in each cubic meter of air. The goal would be 0, but WHO says 0-35 is a safe level of pollution. I just looked up the air quality index in Chengdu today and it is 151-200! A health advisory is issued today that “People with heart of lung disease, older adults, and children should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion; everyone else should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion.” Additionally, people are advised to “stay indoors in a room or building with filtered air.” This is the norm in Chengdu where studies have found that 40% of days in Chengdu have an air quality index of >75 (unhealthy) and many times Chengdu experiences prolonged days of heavy pollution (>150).

So, now let’s think of these little souls living in a Chengdu orphanage. Children are at a higher risk of negative health effects from this high level of pollution because children breathe more air per pound of body weight than adults and because their airways are still developing. Additionally, many of the children at Jay’s orphanage have heart or lung disease which puts them in an even more vulnerable position to the health effects of air pollution. As if they are not up against enough in their precious little lives - they don’t have a family, often are malnourished, often have medical conditions and may not be receiving any/the best treatment - and now they are not breathing healthy clean air. Healthy clean air, such a simple thing we all take for granted.

So, why is this exciting?? Remember when you all purchased t-shirts and supported our fundraiser last year… Well, Jay’s orphanage took a little time (a year!) to believe us that we really wanted to give them a chunk of money without any strings attached. Hope Station (an AMAZING organization in Chengdu) has been working diligently for a year to reassure the orphanage that we truly just want to help and want nothing in return. The orphanage directors finally believe this is true and have just accepted our donation. The money was used to purchase air filters for every single playroom and bedroom in the orphanage! Hope Station’s director, Rebekah Wilder, delivered the air filters to the orphanage this week!

All of Jay’s friends will be breathing fresh, clean air because of you all! You have improved the lives of a building full of children and nannies. You have just helped someone else’s Jay breathe. From the bottom of my heart, Thank You!! This has been an amazing example to my kids about how to rally support from friends and how a small donation from lots of people can amount to a big impact - so thank you for helping me teach that lesson!

Thanks so much!! Rachel, Audrey, Sam & Jay